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[The Lamonster]

oh snap @ the thread title! I love you GAF.

 

[webrunner]

I wish you got something for having less than a golden potato.. I mean I only have the easier ones, but still.. free things are nice.

oh well.

 

[Drkirby]

It was datamined from the registry before the prize was given out, and someone posted a screenshot of it in this thread. It was a package that was newly added called "Valve Potato Champion Comp" and it definitely had Portal 2 in it.

Yeah, Could of just been quickly tossed together. Has there been any official word by Valve about the prize since it came out? A little page or some message?

 

[Celsior]

Anyone have an abridged story?

 

[Jintor]

Hah, so I frenzied over hours early release like the rest of you guys, and the moment Portal 2 came out I played for 3 hours then went to chill in a pub for the rest of the night.

Man, videogames.

 

[Nome]

The reward for 36 potatoes was unlocking Portal 2 half an hour early and a ton of Valve games. That's not a bad reward

The reward for most people, however, was unlocking Portal 2 half an hour early and CS: Condition Zero or Ricochet or something. That is if they got any games at all

Oh no, I understand that part, and I know how some people must feel. The entire thing was a huge hype machine in the end, and that's all you have to really see it for. Still, that's more reward than ARGs usually provide (ie, a trailer).

 

[Bisonian]

Yeah, Could of just been quickly tossed together. Has there been any official word by Valve about the prize since it came out? A little page or some message?

Nope, no word from Valve at all. A few old valve games popped into my steam library when the game unlocked and that was it. This morning, when I woke up there was a Steam announcement box when I logged in saying that I bought Orange Box and could gift my duplicate games (which turned out to only be HL2 and HL2 ep1). The official blog where the prize was mentioned at the start of the Glados@home page hasn't updated at all since launch.

 

[Drkirby]

I am still going to hope Valve Gives out a Golden Wrench in TF2 when they update the game with the proper name of the Aperture Science Hart Hat. Maybe a slightly modified version of the Gold Wrench.

Would also be nice if the Hats you earn in Portal carry over to TF2. The one I got for beating the game looks like it would fit the Medic pretty well.

 

[Scarecrow]

what did golden potato people get?

 

[Drkirby]

what did golden potato people get?

Every Valve Game they did not already own, upto and including Portal 2 (If they oddly didn't have it preordered)

I for one never even knew there was a Half Life Death Match source, and could of used that Counter Strike Source a few days ago.

 

[J-Rod]

As a humble servant to the Master race, I got as many potatoes as I had games for and idled all weekend to try and help. Sorry it was all for naught.

 

[PjotrStroganov]

SUCKERS

 

[badrockjones]

what did golden potato people get?

Agitated.

 

[GDJustin]

If anyone has extra copies of HL1, HL2, ep1, etc., I'd happily take them. I don't any of them on PC yet. Only have them on Orange Box for the 360.

I have an extra copy of Amnesia I can trade to sweeten the deal. SteamID ErrorJustin.

 

[Zomba13]

You guys are pretty ridiculous. You go into the ARG thinking you could maybe play Portal 2 a few days early, now you demand free games. OK MANG

We go into the ARG thinking it's just a bit of fun, get promised a non-hat reward and most of us end up with games we can't really play (yay old multiplayer games with no servers up -.-) or no reward at all if we own every valve game. I would be perfectly happy with a skin or hat or something tbh.

 

[Slavik81]

what did golden potato people get?

An early start on Portal 2 and all Valve games they didn't already own. Depending on what games they already owned, they got somewhere between $140 of some of the best games ever made and nothing. Well, plus the early start.

All things said and done, they all got something reasonable, and some of them got an amazing reward.

 

[dave is ok]

It was a more generous reward than I was expecting - but it mostly rewarded people who aren't Valve fans to begin with.

 

[Trouble]

Haha golden potato peeps thought they were getting exclusive TF2 hats.

Spoiler

They should have.

Edit:

It was a more generous reward than I was expecting - but it mostly rewarded people who aren't Valve fans to begin with.

Which describes about 0 of the people who put in the effor to get 36 potatoes.

 

[D4Danger]

Can someone explain the thread title?

I've been trying to avoid Portal threads since I can't afford to get it yet but there's a lot of anger there I want to know the story

 

[Jas]

Can someone explain the thread title?

I've been trying to avoid Portal threads since I can't afford to get it yet but there's a lot of anger there I want to know the story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdA__2tKoIU

 

[JaseC]

Can someone explain the thread title?

I've been trying to avoid Portal threads since I can't afford to get it yet but there's a lot of anger there I want to know the story

Valve made it seem as though idling in the Potato Sack games would aid in unlocking Portal 2 earlier, but it appears as though the launch time was pre-determined. That in itself isn't all that bad, but many take issue with the fact there was a banner that urged people to buy the Sack to help. As it turned out, they weren't helping at all.

 

[epmode]

Which describes about 0 of the people who put in the effor to get 36 potatoes.

I got Portal 2 out of it! So glad I decided to cancel the pre-order at the last second.

 

[Drkirby]

Can someone explain the thread title?

I've been trying to avoid Portal threads since I can't afford to get it yet but there's a lot of anger there I want to know the story

On Friday at noon a count down timer finished to reveal a Glados@home web site. It promised that if people play the Potato sake games a bunch and collect the Potatoes (And also heavily suggest buying the games), Portal 2 would come out early. In the end, "early" turned out to be roughly 12 AM EST, more or less the same time people assumed it would have come out to start with. The counter wasn't completely rigged, but it was set up to more or less finish up at 12 AM no matter what (The hardest to do game, Killing Floor, took 10 minutes off the counter and was finished about an hour before the time reached zero)

More or less the whole Glados@home thing was a waste of time just giving false hope, leaving a bitter taste in peoples mouths about an other wise well executed ARG. It didn't help that a lot of clues could easily have been interpreted as a Friday Release of the game.

 

[Pseudo_Sam]

What the fuck? I still can't even begin downloading it because the servers are too busy? This is ridiculous.

 

[stuminus3]

The last few days of this ARG have been atrocious but I will admit, I haven't felt the way I did launching Portal 2 last night (at 12:45am!) since I lauched Half-Life 2 for the first time (at 3:00am!). I don't think I'd have been nearly as excited if it wasn't for the past couple of weeks worth of potato-related madness.

 

[Matll]

Why did this have to be Valve. I mean if this was done by some other company like Activision the amount of hate and mad would have been amazing.

When Valve pisses into peoples mouthes they just beg for more.

 

[Drkirby]

What the fuck? I still can't even begin downloading it because the servers are too busy? This is ridiculous.

Gold Potato pays off again! Thanks to the 45 minutes head start I beat the lines!


Did you have the game preloaded, or did you just buy it? If you have it preloaded, just try changing your download region, it is only 66MB.

 

[JaseC]

What the fuck? I still can't even begin downloading it because the servers are too busy? This is ridiculous.

Try switching content server (download) regions.

 

[stuminus3]

When Valve pisses into peoples mouthes they just beg for more.

Not really. I think it's pretty widely agreed to varying degrees that the ARG (at least, since Friday) has been a huge disappointment. We still love Valve because of, well, y'know... Portal 2 itself is the exact opposite of that.

 

[BannedEpisode]

Why did this have to be Valve. I mean if this was done by some other company like Activision the amount of hate and mad would have been amazing.

When Valve pisses into peoples mouthes they just beg for more.

Someone said it earlier but its a lot like that episode of the Simpsons.

Moe: Here you go Barn' That'll be $45.
Barney: $45? Well this better be the best tasting beer in the world.
Barney: You got lucky!

 

[Arozay]

Never participating in things or pre-ordering anything anymore. Fuck.

 

[TheExodu5]

It was a more generous reward than I was expecting - but it mostly rewarded people who aren't Valve fans to begin with.

That's my problem with it. It would have been more rewarding to me if I didn't buy any of their games at all!

 

[Ploid 3.0]

On Friday at noon a count down timer finished to reveal a Glados@home web site. It promised that if people play the Potato sake games a bunch and collect the Potatoes (And also heavily suggest buying the games), Portal 2 would come out early. In the end, "early" turned out to be roughly 12 AM EST, more or less the same time people assumed it would have come out to start with. The counter wasn't completely rigged, but it was set up to more or less finish up at 12 AM no matter what (The hardest to do game, Killing Floor, took 10 minutes off the counter and was finished about an hour before the time reached zero)

More or less the whole Glados@home thing was a waste of time just giving false hope, leaving a bitter taste in peoples mouths about an other wise well executed ARG. It didn't help that a lot of clues could easily have been interpreted as a Friday Release of the game.

Never trust Glados.

 

[Sanic]

Kinda wish I would have participated now, since i'm missing a majority of Valve's games.

 

[corn_fest]

Don't know what you guys are talking about with only getting the regular Valve Conplete Pack if you already owned Portal 2. Everyone got the same potato champions pack which included it.

 

[Drkirby]

That's my problem with it. It would have been more rewarding to me if I didn't buy any of their games at all!

What would you rather have received? I am hoping Valve may roll out some sort of Rewards for everyone who took part in the Potato hunt later today which should give some closure.

What would be awesome though is if Valve later says the Potato Champ pack comes with Dota 2 once it comes out.

 

[PolishQ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdA__2tKoIU

Genius

 

[stuminus3]

What would you rather have received?

Nothing less than Half-Life 3.

Haha.

 

[Pseudo_Sam]

Try switching content server (download) regions.

Tried it, tried pre-loading all last week too. Fuck this.

/pissed

 

[Sanic]

Tried it, tried pre-loading all last week too. Fuck this.

/pissed

Go give Valve even more money by buying the disc version! After this great ARG, they deserve it!

 

[Nabs]

Tried it, tried pre-loading all last week too. Fuck this.

/pissed

Yikes. Where are you located?

 

[Zomba13]

Kinda wish I would have participated now, since i'm missing a majority of Valve's games.

It's kinda funny (ironic?) that all the people who need valves games didn't get the golden potato and all the people who own most of valves games did.

Anyway, they obviously planned this shit. Reward the golden potato people with your backlog because they have most of the games so you're not losing out on much and it seems like a fantastic prize to people who didn't take part.

 

[TheExodu5]

What would you rather have received? I am hoping Valve may roll out some sort of Rewards for everyone who took part in the Potato hunt later today which should give some closure.

What would be awesome though is if Valve later says the Potato Champ pack comes with Dota 2 once it comes out.

Dota 2 would have been an awesome prize!

Honestly, if it was just the Valve complete pack, I wouldn't be so peeved. The fact that they gave Portal 2 just discourages me from ever pre-ordering their products in the future.

It's kinda funny (ironic?) that all the people who need valves games didn't get the golden potato and all the people who own most of valves games did.

Anyway, they obviously planned this shit. Reward the golden potato people with your backlog because they have most of the games so you're not losing out on much and it seems like a fantastic prize to people who didn't take part.

I thought so too...but they haven't even advertised the fact that they gave these games away, which is puzzling.

 

[Pseudo_Sam]

Yikes. Where are you located?

Central Ohio. Am I doing something wrong? Maybe there's some extraneous step to get it to start downloading that I'm just missing.

 

[Sanic]

Central Ohio. Am I doing something wrong? Maybe there's some extraneous step to get it to start downloading that I'm just missing.

There are servers in Columbus. Your situation really does seem a bit odd...

 

[Drkirby]

I thought so too...but they haven't even advertised the fact that they gave these games away, which is puzzling.

Yeah, I am waiting for some closure before I give up my hopes completely about just what we get. We still don't have our bot skins!

 

[DeBurgo]

Why did this have to be Valve. I mean if this was done by some other company like Activision the amount of hate and mad would have been amazing.

When Valve pisses into peoples mouthes they just beg for more.

I'm not begging for shit, I'm just ignoring it and not whining constantly. Also, this is further tempered by my belief that ARGs are for suckers, anyway. Seriously, what ARG isn't ultimately a colossal waste of time?

 

[TheSeks]

If I knew I had to torture myself with some crap indy games to get a complete Valve game set, I guess I would've wasted time with a stupid ARG to do it.

...Actually, nah. I'd still pay the $50 for Portal 2 and just enjoy that instead of praying to release Portal 2 early.

 

[Drkirby]

I'm not begging for shit, I'm just ignoring it and not whining constantly. Also, this is further tempered by my belief that ARGs are for suckers, anyway. Seriously, what ARG isn't ultimately a colossal waste of time?

IMO, yes. The Potato hunt was fun though, I do not regret that at all.

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

What would you rather have received? I am hoping Valve may roll out some sort of Rewards for everyone who took part in the Potato hunt later today which should give some closure.

What would be awesome though is if Valve later says the Potato Champ pack comes with Dota 2 once it comes out.

Some sort of consolation prize for those who got at least one potato, even if we didn't get all 36 would help to ease the tension right now.

It's hard to say exactly how I feel, but I Valve pulled something like this again, I wouldn't know whether to go full-out in pursuing it and hope for a similar reward as the Valve complete pack, or just to ignore it. Portal 2 being part of the pack just sort of complicates things even more - it makes pre-ordering Valve games in the future seem like a bad idea now, at least on Steam, especially when day 1 retail deals will end usually end up being a little better.